


The Lotus Maze

by skinandbones



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Falling In Love, Friendship, M/M, Magic Maze, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-07
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:09:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8466556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skinandbones/pseuds/skinandbones
Summary: Lance is stuck in the maze and somehow, he stumbles upon a room of paintings and finds companionship in a guy living in his own works.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another self-indulgent work I guess??? SHRUGS REALLY HARD, and I ran into a semi-writer's block for Letters From the Other so there's that lol.
> 
> Edit: 02-06-18
> 
> Chapter 1 is rewritten.

Stone walls filtered like a monochrome picture without the warmth of a sun. Only shades of dull grays and whites were cold to the touch against Lance’s hand as he walked down the straight path. Lance continued on the trail stretching for an eternity, seeing the same walls repeating as he went. No matter what direction he headed, he wasn’t making any progress in his escape.

There was no way out.

Lance was stuck.

He remembered entering an old temple he found deep in the forest. Unexpectedly, he made the mistake of stepping on a loose floorboard and fell into darkness, landing in a pool of water instead. He tried swimming upward but was met with an invisible wall, his fists banging against the hard surface but proved useless when he couldn’t break through.

A sudden flash of light cast from the dark depths below alerted Lance, as if showing him the way out. He swam toward it as fast as his limbs could carry him, but all the struggling died out in his system when he found himself able to breathe normally.

Eyes widened in surprise as the oxygen flowed through his nostrils and into his lungs. Then an unknown force skewed his mind, almost as if someone flipped his body once and told him to stay put. Lance’s body started falling slowly until his shoes finally met ground. He looked up, blinking in amazement at the layer of water he came out of was on the ceiling now.

More confusion racked his head again. He was dry at least, and the unknown world around him left him feeling more lost than before.

Lance didn’t know what to do except figuring out that the best possible way was to try finding the exit out of this place. He had no idea how long he was searching, but it felt like hours despite any way of tracking time that passed. The watch on his wrist stopped ticking.

One thing he realized was that he wasn’t hungry too. Normally, his body start complaining, and his stomach churning out weird noises, but Lance knew he wasn’t experiencing those sensations anymore. He wasn’t sure what was going on. It felt as if he had an endless bundle of energy stored within him that he never knew he had. Lance grinned at the one positive fact.

But the longer he searched for a way to leave, there was this quiet eerie feeling around him that wouldn’t go away. It hugged at his skin like a lover’s touch and raised the tiny hairs on the back of his neck. He could hear his own shoes pattering against the floor, and his heart beating faster in trepidation, but the sounds of any life in this so called maze were empty.

“Hello?” Lance tried calling out, “hey! Anyone here?!” He continued to do so at every “new” hallway he turned to, but he received no response. No one was here except him.

“God, what bullshit. What the hell is going on here?” Lance kicked at the wall in irritation before stomping off once more with heat in his steps. “Well, whatever game you’re playing at… I’m not buying it!”

Whoever was watching him, they better be prepared because this was Lance they were messing with.

“Don’t test me, you got that?! I’ll get out of here, just you wait and see!”

Lance halted his movements, expecting a sign to hit him at any moment.

He breathed. The silence was haunting while the minutes passed, but Lance gave up eventually when he couldn’t wait any longer and continued making his way through this mystery maze in low spirits.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 02-07-18: Chapter 2 is rewritten.

Lance was bored.

All the walking he had done so far didn’t improve his situation. He wandered around aimlessly looking for anything that could show him the way out. Some sign, a voice, anything that would allow him to have his freedom. He considered heading back to where he came from, but the maze decided to screw him over because there was no way of accurately retracing his steps.

A fruitless attempt.

Lance reached a point where he wasn’t going in simple directions anymore. Now, he had the choice of staircases, ups and downs they went but never a quick way out. They didn’t lead to anywhere specific, one would bring him downward until he found a path to take him back up. It was repetitive especially when there was no point to all of it.

He wasn’t going to scream and demand his release, but it helped to speak aloud, making it more interesting as if he expected someone to communicate back. He tried with funny stories, few jokes, and his favorite meals. It was a way to pass the time and cure his boredom.

However, nothing helped once Lance ran out of topics, but all his walking led to him discovering a wooden door underneath a granite staircase he was climbing up on. Now, that was something he didn’t expect, but he took it as a wonderful sign, and appreciation worked its way on his face.

Perhaps the maze wanted Lance to find it. He mused over the thought as if there was a powerful entity controlling this place. He walked down the steps to the door. A long awaited sigh left his lips, a tingle of excitement spread throughout his fingers and into his tips as he turned the door knob.

The door creaked as he swung it opened, and what he found was a room of pearly white walls with paintings enveloping the entirety. The pictures were covered in such range of vivid colors. Intense greens and and gentle blues, strings of yellows and passionate reds danced in Lance’s view as if he was on a roller-coaster.

Lance gasped in awe at each one, admiring the details of various landscapes and homes most charming to the eyes. Some depicted the tranquility of the countryside and others the rage of an angry storm, even a painting of distant lands he doesn’t recognize. Waterfalls hidden within a jungle, both the rising and setting of a sun, and the night sky of stars shimmering with brilliance, all made Lance standing there looking entranced.

Each piece was beautiful and labeled with a black signature of the letter ‘K’ on the bottom right corner.

“This is incredible,” Lance said as he strolled further into the room, spinning around and still breathless at the works surrounding him.

In the center of the room, Lance noticed an empty canvas against an easel. Next to it, a small table sat next to it, paint brushes neatly placed side by side on it with an array of color tubes waiting to be used. Lance walked over and pondered at the setting, even spotting the palette of dry paint. But the painter wasn’t to be seen.

Out of curiosity, Lance stretched his hand out toward the canvas, but a voice stopped him immediately. His fingers inches apart from the material.

“Don’t touch it!”

Startled at the sound of a male voice, Lance pulled back and quickly looked around, eyes searching for the source of this speaker.

“Uh hello?” Lance looked around. No one was occupying this room except for him, so he found it peculiar and repeated his ‘hello’ again.

“Step away from the canvas immediately!”

 


	3. Chapter 3

“Alright, alright! Sheesh, you don’t have to be so rude about it!” Lance cried out as he turned around to spot the voice but all he saw were the paintings.

 

“Did no one teach you not to touch someone else’s things?” A scoff. “Your hand is full of dirt and oils that can ruin one’s work!”

 

“Who’re you calling dirty? Come down here and show yourself!”

 

Silence.

 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Coward.”

 

Silence.

 

“Be that way,” Lance muttered.

 

“Come here,” the voice spoke once more, “to your left. The one with the white background.”

 

Lance raised a brow and glanced at his left, spotting a painting of a snowy landscape and a small house in the distance. “No.”

 

“Please?” The voice spoke kindly than before without the irritable annoyance. 

 

He shouldn’t be trusting this stupid voice but whatever, he can protect himself if things turned wild. When he stood in front of that particular picture, he waited for the voice to speak to him.

 

“What? What do you want?” Looking more into the picture, Lance admitted the scenery in front of him was nice, all of that snow blanketed the entire fields and pine trees layered with a thin line of white each time. If this guy wanted to show him this then he should’ve said so.

 

“Behind you.”

 

The words carelessly lingered behind him, and Lance turned with his hands raised and tried to throw a fist full of punches with inserts of dramatic cries but ended up fighting the air instead. “What the…” He stopped.

 

He heard laughter from behind and turned around but what he didn’t expect was finding a person within the painting. A man with a black mullet and eyes with a deep shade of purple, he was young, possibly the same age as Lance. He wore a clean white dress shirt with black suspenders.

 

Kinda handsome there, he guessed. He meant the dude blending in with the painting of course. All that white and black blending in with the winter theme. 

 

“You should’ve seen yourself! Were you that scared?” The male stranger continued to laugh, his shoulders shaking in amusement. Lance made a mental note that he didn’t like him one bit.

 

“I was not! I thought you were gonna attack me, okay?!” Lance pointed a finger at him. “And who the hell are you? How about you come out of there and I’ll show you something really hilarious with my fists.”

 

“Oh man, I kid, I kid.” The stifle of laughter stopped. “Sorry, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen another person. Hey, don’t give me that look. I’ll be nice and tell you my name. The name’s Keith and as you can see, the paintings are mine. Happy now?”

 

Lance stilled and Keith gave him a questioning look. The one thing Lance should’ve done in the first place was to walk out of the room after seeing this weird guy from the start. Whatever magic this way, he wasn’t going to buy it, and certainly not Keith and his dumb little joke he played.

 

“You know what? I don’t even know why I’m talking to you. I’m going crazy, that’s what it is. You’re a figment of my imagination after all that walking I did.” Lance made that sudden realization and it made sense to him. He shook his head thinking how silly he was and started walking toward the exit. It was all a trick and no way he would fall for it. 

 

“Sorry but this is a goodbye, Keith.” Lance waved him a farewell.

 

“Hey! Hold on a sec! Wait!” Keith called out.

 

As Lance made his way, he noticed the blur passing through the various paintings until Keith materialized in one meadow artwork right near the door

  
“Don’t,” Keith begged him, “don’t leave.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know... I use this story to write short chapters when I'm really stressed, like you feel you're about to snap but you need to write whatever that doesn't make you think about anything else. You don't force it out and just do it? Yeah, it's something of that nature, and playing with this mystery too.

“Whoa, whoa. How’d you do that?” Lance asked in awe, studying the frames of the painting.

 

“Do what?”

 

“Ya know, the whole, uh, teleporting thingy-ma-jig?” He made a _swish swish_ motion with his finger.

 

“This?” Keith walked to his right. From the meadow painting, he entered into a land of golden flowers, the petals playfully spiraled in the air and a waterfall right behind him.

 

A smooth transition.

 

“Dang, that’s so neat! Can you do that again?” No doubt, Lance was in awe as he tried to wrap his head around the mystery of traveling through paintings. Keith’s ability was so cool like a superhero but mostly it was fascinating.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Keith crossed his arms in disbelief.

 

“Then I guess I’m leaving.” Lance went to touch the doorknob. “Later.”

 

“Hold on.” A hint of a growl left Keith’s lips. He crossed back into the other painting he was in before and glared at Lance. “Satisfied now?”

 

“Shit man, this IS real. How do you even do that?”

 

Keith shrugged. “I move?”

 

“Really?”

 

“Are you going to stay?”

 

Lance sighed and took his hand off the doorknob. “Fine, fine. You got a lot explaining to do AND this better not be some kind of prank!”

 

“It’s not and I think the maze would’ve told you that long ago but you’re stuck here like me. Who knows for how long too.” Keith said and gestured to the stool by the easel. “Take my seat.” He slipped into an autumn scenery on the other side of the door. “By the way, you haven’t told me your name yet.”

 

“Oh. Well, call me Lance. Say it don’t spray it, that’s what I always say.” Lance answered and sat on his stool. He noticed in the one painting, Keith sat by a fire and warmed his hands a bit.

 

“Uh huh… Nice to meet you, Lance.”

 

“So, um… were you always in your paintings?”

 

“If I was then how would I create all of these you see before you?”

 

“Magic?”

 

“Seriously?”

 

“Hey. You could be some demon pretending to be a human and I wouldn’t know. Maybe you suck them into your paintings and eat them.” Lance made some chomping noises with his teeth and hissed. “Oooh I’m going to suck your blood.” It was a horrible Transylvanian accent, even gave Keith a twitched.

 

“Unbelievable. You know, I was going to explain but…” Keith stood up.

 

“Wait, wait! I was kidding!” Lance pressed his hands together in submission, his head lowered in forgiveness. “Don’t go, I’m sorry! You’re totally a cool human dude and nice hair! Jokes aside. Really. Please?”

 

There was hesitancy in Keith but he sat back down, keeping a close eye on Lance. “Okay.”

 

-

 

Keith explained from the beginning starting with his discovery of an old abandoned temple around the outskirts of town. With no one around, he ventured through the area and tried to figure what he wanted to paint. He hoped to draw some inspiration for his next piece, but when he stepped inside, the floor loosened around him and he fell into darkness.

 

When he got his bearings, he discovered the maze. Like Lance, he kept on walking and hoped to find someone other than himself to talk to.

 

He thought this maze had a mind of its own because after finding this room, the maze gave him the supplies he needed. The canvases and paint. He spent his time on art and nothing else. He wanted to go outside but he found the door locked, figured he was trapped inside this room for a long time.

 

Sometimes, he would talk to himself, thinking the maze would listen to him but it only gave him more canvases until they filled the entire room.

 

One day, he spotted a blank canvas. The same one Lance was about to touch before he stopped him. It was Keith’s mistake when he touched it.

 

He discovered it was a portal connecting to his entire works all over the room. He learned to travel through them but never found the way to leave.

 

Trapped.

 

The portal can go one way only and that was it. He was given the ability to travel through them and lived like some kind of immortal being, but Keith was no immortal. He was only human and spent his days waiting and hoping for someone to find this room.

 

Lance didn’t know what to expect, the tale was very sad. Unable to escape in his own works until he grew old, that wasn’t fair. “I’m sorry. Do you know how long you’ve been here?”

 

“It’s kinda hard to say.” Keith scratched the back of his head. “Days. Nights. I don’t know. At least it’s not so bad now. You’re weird but maybe the ‘good’ kind.” He ended at a light note.

 

“And what does even mean?”

 

Keith stared in the other direction, a little mischievous. “Who knows but take it as a compliment.” He looked back and there was Lance’s annoyed look again. “Lighten up. Tell me about you?”

  


**Author's Note:**

> Find me at [ofskinandbones](http://www.ofskinandbones.tumblr.com).


End file.
